The common pear or some of its hybrids with the oriental pear
is grown for a home supply of fruit, if not for the markets, in every
part of North America where hardy fruits thrive except in the extreme
north and south. But commercial pear-growing on this continent is
confined to a few regions, and in these is profitable only in carefully
selected situations. Perhaps the culture of no other fruit, not even of
the tender peach nor of the capricious grape, is more definitely
determined by environment than is that of the pear. A study of the
regions in America in which pears are successfully grown for the
markets furnishes clews to the proper culture of this fruit in New
York, and shows with what regions this State must compete in growing
pears for the markets. The location of the pear regions in America is
readily determined by figures showing the number of trees and their
yield in the various fruit regions of the country.

PEAR STATISTICS FOR THE UNITED STATES AND NEW YORK

Six states produced over 65 per cent of the pears grown in the
United States in 1919. The census of 1920 shows that in the preceding
year the total crop of the country was 14,211,346 bushels, of which
California produced 3,952,923 bushels; New York, 1,830,237 bushels;
Washington, 1,728,759 bushels; Oregon, 761,063 bushels; Texas, 637,400
bushels; and Missouri, 430,828 bushels. Trees in all other states
yielded 4,870,136 bushels. There were according to this census
14,646,995 bearing trees and 6,051,845 not of bearing age. The yield of
fruit was 60 per cent greater than in 1909; the number of bearing trees
3 per cent less; and the number of non-bearing trees 28 per cent less.
Compared with other tree-fruits, according to this census, the pear
occupies fourth place in value of product, the apple, peach (including
the nectarine), and plum (including the prune), in order named,
outranking the pear. Probably the orange, grape, and strawberry yield
greater value to the country than the pear, although the acreage of
each of these three fruits is smaller. Commercial production cannot be
segregated from the total, but without question the increase in
plantings is due to commercial activities; for the development of the
canning industry, refrigerator service, and better transportation have
greatly stimulated trade in this fruit.

In the states in which pear-growing is a commercial industry,
commercial orchards are confined to localities in which climate, soil,
and transportation combine to favor the pear. In New York, for example,
pears are grown for market on a large scale in only ten of the
sixty-one counties. These, with the number of trees in each, according
to the last census are as follows: Niagara, 620,743; Monroe, 384,374;
Orleans, 377,371; Columbia, 308,298; Wayne, 305,239; Ulster, 304,158;
Greene, 208,885; Oswego, 154,576; Ontario, 121,934; Orange, 96,456.

Over 77 per cent of all the pear-trees in the State are in
these counties, and 79 per cent of the pears grown in the State are
produced in these ten counties. The production of pears in New York for
the eleven-year period from 1909 to 1919, inclusive, show the increase
and fluctuation in the production of pears in the State for this
period. The figures for 1909 and 1919 are from the thirteenth and
fourteenth census reports, while those of the intervening years are
estimates from the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United States
Department of Agriculture. The yields run in bushels for the eleven
years as follows: 1,343,000, 1,530,000, 1,886,000, 1,128,000,
2,016,000, 1,298,000, 1,375,000, 1,675,000, 1,708,000, 1,352,000, and
1,830,237.

Bartlett and Kieffer are conspicuous leaders among varieties
in number of trees and in production for the whole country. In the
great commercial pear-growing regions of New York and California,
Bartlett is the favorite variety, but Kieffer is grown largely also,
especially for canners. In the South and in the Mississippi Valley,
Kieffer is the leading variety because it is relatively resistant to
blight and withstands extremes in climate better than other varieties.
For many years after its introduction about 1870, Kieffer was
over-praised by both fruit-growers and nurserymen. Fruitgrowers liked
it because of its resistance to blight and great productiveness, and
nurserymen preferred it to other sorts because it is the easiest of all
varieties to grow in the nursery. It is, however, so universally
condemned for its tasteless fruits that it is losing its popularity,
and is not now as largely planted in competition with Bartlett as it
once was. Seckel, Clapp Favorite, Winter Nelis, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre
Bosc, Howell, Sheldon, Beurre Clairgeau, and Garber for the South, are
the standard varieties following Bartlett and Kieffer in popularity.

Bartlett is far in the lead of commercial varieties in New
York. At present, Kieffer probably holds second place in this State,
but its popularity is fast waning and Seckel is nearly as commonly
planted, if, indeed, it does not now surpass Kieffer in number of trees.
Clapp Favorite, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Bosc,
Beurre Clairgeau, Duchesse d'Angoulême, Howell,
Lawrence, Sheldon, Vermont Beauty,
and Winter Nelis are all planted
more or less in commercial orchards, and are the favorites for home
use. All of these varieties are susceptible to blight, are a little too
tender to cold, and have other faults of tree and fruit, so that
pear-growers in New York anxiously look forward to better varieties. It
is hardly too much to say that pear-growing can never become a great
industry in New York until better varieties take the place of the
unreliable sorts that must be planted now.

To some extent, man-governed agencies determine where pears
may be grown profitably if the planter is growing for the markets.
Pears do not keep long and are easily bruised, and transportation must
not take too great toll; therefore, handling facilities must be
suitable, markets must not be distant, and transportation must be cheap
and efficient. But in the culture of this fruit, natural agencies
outrank those depending on man, two of which determine very largely
where pears are to be grown commercially in both the country and the
state. These two, climate and soil, have been mentioned before, but
must now be discussed somewhat in detail.

CLIMATE

The ideal climate for a cultivated plant is one in which the
plant thrives as an escape from cultivation wholly independent of care
from man. The apple, cherry, plum, and peach are often found wild in
one or another part of America, but the pear almost never. The pear
does not naturally become inured to the American climate, and in the
orchard is not well acclimated even in the varieties which have
originated in the country. In particular, as a young tree and until
well advanced toward maturity, the pear shows the bad effects of
maladjustment to climate, but as an old tree it seems to be far less
susceptible to the extremes of climate to which fruit trees are
subjected in most parts of America. Both of the two chief constituents
of climate, temperature and rainfall, are determinants of regions and
sites in pear-growing.

Extremes in temperature, more particularly of cold, are the
only phases of temperature that pear-growers need consider in New York.
The pear is not nearly as hardy as the apple, and Bartlett, the
foremost variety in the State, is almost as tender to cold as the
peach. The limits of commercial pear-culture are set in this State by
the winter climate. The pear cannot be grown profitably where the
temperature often falls below -15º F., for while winter-killing of the wood does not
always occur at this temperature it sometimes does, and even occasional
injury to the tree is almost fatal to the profitable growing of fruit.
Fruit-buds of the pear are a little more tender to cold than the wood,
and a season's crop is often ruined when the temperature drops to -10° F. Pears in the nursery are more tender to cold than trees in the
orchard, and unless the wood is thoroughly mature or protected by a
heavy covering of snow, nursery stock is likely to be injured by any
temperature below zero. The injury of nursery stock is manifested in
the well-known "black heart" of young pear-trees subjected to severe
cold.

Happily, there is some flexibility in the constitutions of
varieties of pears, as with all fruits, and a degree of cold that will
kill a variety under one set of conditions may not under another.
While, therefore, it is not safe for commercial fruit-growers to gamble
with the weather, those who grow pears for their own use may do so with
the expectation of losing trees or crop now and then but of having them
in most seasons. A little can be done to prevent winter injury by
carefully selecting sites protected from prevailing winter winds, and
by planting on warm soils on which the wood matures more thoroughly
than on cold soils. Careful cultural methods, especially the use of
cover-crops, may be helpful. Not much can be done in the way of
coddling pear-trees from cold. They cannot be laid down as is sometimes
done with peach-trees, nor can they be grown low enough, even as
dwarfs, to count on much protection from deep snow.

Happily, also, there are varieties of pears endowed with
constitutions fitted for very different climates. Varieties of pears
from central and northern Russia show remarkable capacity in resisting
cold, heat, dryness, strong winds, and other peculiarities of the
climate of the Great Plains, and some of them can be grown in the
coldest agricultural regions of New York. A few hybrids, as Kieffer, Le
Conte, Garber, Douglas, and others of their kind can be grown in the
Gulf States where the common pear cannot withstand the hot summers.
Cincinis, Le Conte, and Garber thrive as far south as central Florida
and southern Texas. There is considerable variation in the hardiness of
the common pear. Tyson, Flemish Beauty, and Beurre Superfin are much
hardier than Bartlett, Seckel, or Clapp Favorite, and may be chosen to
extend the culture of this fruit to any part of New York in which the
Baldwin apple can be grown. It is most surprising to find occasionally
these hardiest of the common pears growing in some of the coldest parts
of the State, usually as demonstrations not only of superior inherent hardiness but also of hardiness
Drought about by conditions which enable the trees to enter the winter
with unimpaired constitutions.
[For a more-modern and expanded list of heat-resistant pears, see this page.
Some additional information on cold-resistant pears, see this old Canadian resource and this new one(to be added).-ASC]

The pear is seldom injured by heat in the summers of New York.
Occasionally fruit and foliage suffer from long-continued heat in the
dry weather of a hot summer. More often the trunks of pear-trees are
injured by a blazing sun in late winter or early spring, especially
when the sun's rays are reflected by ice or snow and strike the tree
intensified. Indeed, sunscald so produced is one of the common troubles
of the pear in New York. With the pear, as with all other fruits, there
is a sum total of heat units above a certain temperature, put by most
experimenters at about 43° F., the awakening point of growth, necessary
to carry the crop from blossoms to proper maturity. Of the number of
units necessary to mature a crop little is known. Many varieties do not
ripen in New York in a cold season, but come to perfect maturity in
warm seasons. A study of phenology would throw much light on the
failure of pears to ripen properly.

The average date at which the last killing frost occurs in the
spring helps to determine the limits in latitude and altitude at which
the pear can be grown in New York. The pear blossoms early, and while
both in bud and blossom the reproductive organs seem able to stand more
cold than those of the peach and sweet cherry, yet even in the most
favored regions for growing this fruit in New York a crop is
occasionally lost from killing frosts, and there are few years in which
frost does not take toll in some part of the State. Damage from frost
must be expected when the commonly recognized precautions in selecting
frost-resistant sites are not recognized. Little or nothing can be done
in New York to prevent injury from frost once trees have been set.
Windbreaks, whitewashing, smudging, and orchard-heaters are all
failures in frost-fighting in this State.

The pear-grower should know how the blooming time of the
varieties of pears he plants agrees in time with spring frosts. To do
this he must have weather data and must know the approximate date of
blooming of varieties. He ought also to be able to synchronize three of
these phases of climate spring frosts, fall frosts, and the length of
the summer with the ripening dates of varieties. Data as to the average
dates of spring and fall frosts can be obtained from the nearest local
weather bureau. The accompanying table gives the blooming and ripening
dates of pears grown at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station.
Blooming and ripening dates vary in different parts of the State, and
to make use of the data from this Station the grower must compare the
latitude, altitude, and local environment of his orchard with those of
the Station. Data for the Station is as follows:

[*There is also an Angelique de Bordeaux
listed, but I believe Hedrick intended to indicate Beurré de Bordeaux
which matches the ripening season better than Angelique. -A.S.C.
**Spelled everywhere else as, "Madeleine", so I presume they are the same. -A.S.C.
***No cultivar is listed in the Index or elsewhere as simply, 'Romain', so I made the assumption that Hedrick was referring to Beurré Romain.
Also see: Fondante de Rome ou Sucre Romain. -A.S.C.4Which is it? Sieboldii or Madame Von Siebold? I don't know,
but you can follow the links to find out about both.- A.S.C.5Not clear whether the intended cultivar is Baron Treyve or Madame Treyve, but I assumed the latter.]

The latitude of the Smith Astronomical Observatory, a quarter
of a mile from the Station orchards, is 420 52' 46.2"; the altitude of
the orchards is from five hundred to five hundred and twenty-five feet
above the sea level. The soil is a loamy but rather cold clay; the
orchards lie about a mile west of Seneca Lake, a body of water forty
miles in length and from one to three and one-half miles in width and
more than six hundred feet deep. The lake has frozen over but a few
times since the region was settled, over a hundred years ago, and has a
very beneficial influence on the adjacent country in lessening the cold
of winter and the heat of summer and in preventing early blooming.

The blooming period is that of full bloom. The data were taken
from trees grown under normal conditions as to pruning, distance apart,
and as to all other factors which might influence the blooming period.
There is a variation of several days between the time of full bloom of
the different varieties of pears. These differences can be utilized in
selecting sorts to avoid injury from frost. In using blooming-time data
it must be kept constantly in mind that varieties of fruits may not
bloom in the same relative time. In very warm or very cold springs the
usual relations of blooming-time may be upset.

Rainfall, moisture, and cloudiness are most important in
growing pears. England, Belgium, and northern France, regions where the
pear finds the climate most congenial, have much cool, moist, cloudy
weather with much less variation in temperature than is the case in the
United States. The climate of New York and the states bordered by the
Great Lakes where most of the pears of eastern America are grown, is
cooler, moister, and cloudiness is more prevalent than in other eastern
states. The summer climate of the Pacific slope is not moist but is
equable and, in the best pear orchards, moisture is supplied abundantly
by irrigation. From these considerations we may assume that the pear
requires more moisture than most other fruits. The pear in New York
more often suffers from too little than from too much rain. The
exception is when pears are in bloom, at which time the crop is
sometimes lost or badly injured by cold, wet weather. Warm, moist
weather is favorable to both fire-blight and the scab fungus, the two
most dreaded diseases of the pear.

Several other weather problems should be studied before
selecting a region as a site for a pear-orchard. The direction, force,
and frequency of prevailing winds both in winter and summer are
important considerations. Unfavorable winds in winter favor
winter-killing; in blooming time prevent the proper setting of fruit;
and at ripening time make many windfalls. Hail storms are more frequent
in some parts of New York than in others and may be a deterrent in
selecting a site. Lastly, drouths, so fatal to the pear, are more
common in some parts of the State than in others.

LOCATIONS AND SOILS FOR PEARS

Pears thrive in a great diversity of soils, provided, almost
always, that there is depth for proper root-run. A few varieties may be
grown in comparatively shallow soils, but most pears are deep-rooted.
The common pear is rather averse to sand, gravels, and light soils in
general, and does best in rather heavy loams, clays, and even in silts. Many
varieties show preferences for the several types of loam and clay, and
the commercial grower must see to it that the varieties he plants are
suited in their particular soil preference. Hybrids between the common
pear and the oriental pear the Kieffer and its kin grow well in much
lighter soils than pure-bred sorts of the common pear, and, as a rule,
find sands and gravels more to their liking than clays and heavy loams.
Pears will stand rather more water in the soil than any other of their
orchard associates, but a soil water-soaked for any great length of
time in the growing season is a poor medium in which to grow pears. If,
therefore, a soil is not sufficiently dry naturally it must be
tile-drained.

Pear soils must be fertile. All varieties of this fruit refuse
to produce good crops in soils lacking an abundance of the several
chemical elements of plant nutrition. Even the light soils on which
Kieffer, Garber, and Le Conte seem to do best must be well stored with
plant-food. This means that good pear land is costly. Soils that grow
good pears usually grow good farm crops. Pears planted in a poor soil
do not live but linger. Who has not seen short-wooded, rough,
malformed, dwarfed, starved trees which have come to their wretched
condition because planted on land not fertile enough for this fruit?
The land-skinner who grows grass in his orchard usually comes to grief
quickly. Pears start best in a virgin soil from which the forest has
not been long removed; on the other hand, they are often hard to start
on senile soils even though they have been heavily fertilized. Plenty
of humus seems to stimulate pears. There is a prejudice against soils
too rich, some holding that on overly rich land the growth is soft and
sappy and therefore a good medium for the multiplication of the blight
bacteria. This is mostly prejudice, but certain it is that culture and
fertility should not be so managed that the growth continues late, and
the trees go into the winter soft and tender to cold.

Soils seem to have a profound influence on the flavor and
texture of pears. In uncongenial soils the fruits are often so sour or
astringent, dry or gritty, that the product is poor in quality; whereas
the pears of the same variety in a soil to which it is suited are
choicely good. A few varieties, as Bartlett, Clapp Favorite, and
Seckel, grow well and produce fine fruit in a great diversity of soils,
but most sorts do so much better in one soil than in another that it
becomes a matter of prime importance in pear-growing to discover the
particular adaptations of the varieties to be planted. To discover an
ideal soil for a variety is about the highest desideratum in
pear-growing.

Some varieties are made to grow in uncongenial soils by
grafting them on stocks better adapted to the soil. Thus, on certain
soils some pears grafted on quince stocks do better than on pear roots.
This is a great field of future discovery and one in which discoveries
are being made as experimenters try new stocks to secure greater
resistance to blight. In all of this work, pear-growers must know not
only how well the stock resists blight, but also how well the cion
takes to the stock and the stock thrives on various soils.

The pear is easy to suit in matter of site for the orchard so
far as lay of land is concerned. Altitude, exposure, slope, and local
climate, all so important in choosing sites for the more tender peach,
plum, and sweet cherry, need receive little consideration in planting
the pear. A site somewhat higher than the surrounding country gives the
two great advantages of soil drainage and air drainage. Good air
drainage is a prime requisite with pears, as it helps to reduce the
danger from frost, and neither pear-scab nor fire-blight are as
virulent as on trees planted on sites where there is little movement of
air. Rolling land, so often recommended for all fruits, seems not to be
essential for pears, as many splendid orchards of this fruit are on
flat lands, which, however, usually have an elevation above the
surrounding country on one or more boundaries. The influence of large
bodies of water, so favorable to the peach, is not as necessary with
the pear, although the best pear regions in the State are near the
Great Lakes, the Finger Lakes, or along the Hudson. There are no
successful pear-orchards in the State surrounded by higher land.
Frosts, freezes, pear-blight, and fungi would soon play havoc with
pear-trees in such a situation.

The shelter of hills, forests, or of apple-orchards, provided
they do not shade the pear-orchard too much, may be a valuable adjunct
to a site. Such shelter, however, is desirable only when so situated as
to protect against unseasonable winds and storms. Tree and fruit suffer
greatly when loaded branches are whipped about by strong winds. The
advantages of artificial windbreaks, whether of evergreen or deciduous
trees, are usually more than offset by disadvantages. The direction in
which land slopes is greatly over-emphasized by horticultural writers
if orchards in New York are considered. The only important aspect of
exposure for pears in this State is that the land slope toward the
water when near a large body of water that the orchard may secure in
full the effects that come from planting trees near the water.

Economic considerations are becoming more and more important
in choosing sites for all fruits in New York. Transportation
facilities, including good roads, markets, labor, and packing and
selling organizations are now more important in the pear regions of the
State than the natural determinants of soil and climate, since these
are so favorable in any of the fruit regions in which pears are largely
grown. Natural advantages are more common than man-made ones, and the
pear may be grown on vast areas of New York lands so far as climate and
soil are concerned, but which are wholly unsuited because the economic
factors are unfavorable. Sites for pear-orchards should be sought for
in localities where there are pears enough grown for a central packing
association; near a shipping center where the haul is short and over
good roads; the freight service should be prompt, regular, and
efficient, with low freight and good refrigerator service; labor should
be abundant and not too expensive; and the markets should be several
and so located that they are not controlled by growers in regions more
advantageously situated.

The pear-grower is becoming more and more concerned with the
kind of stock upon which his trees are grafted. One or more of several
objects is sought in working a pear on roots other than its own. The
stock may be chosen, and most often is, with the single purpose in view
of perpetuating a variety; it may be selected to dwarf or magnify the
size of the cion; very often the stock is better adapted to the soil
than the cion would be on its own roots; the quality of the fruit is
sometimes improved by the stock; lastly, some stocks are much more
resistant to fire-blight than others. It is this last character of the
stock that is now receiving most attention. Stock and cion are united
either by budding or grafting, with budding coming more and more in
use. More than with any other fruit, double-working is used in
propagating pears. For example, the quince stock is often preferred to
a pear stock. But some varieties of pears do not unite well with the
quince, in which case a sort which makes a good union with the quince
is first budded or grafted on the stock, and when this cion has grown
to sufficient size, it is top-worked to the desired variety. According
to the size of the mature plant, pear-trees are designated as dwarfs
and standards, the difference in size being brought about by the stock.
Dwarf trees are usually grown on quince stocks; standards, on pear
stocks.

Dwarfing pear-trees is an old practice, having been in use in
Europe at least 300 years. During this time the use of quince stocks to
dwarf the pear has been a common practice in France and England. For a century, dwarfing the pear by growing it on the quince has
been common in America. Dwarfing is recommended to secure several
effects. Dwarf trees are more manageable than standard trees when the
orchard area is small; dwarfing stocks are shallow rooted, and dwarfs,
as a rule, do not need a soil so deep as do standard trees; pears grown
on quince stocks are often larger, handsomer, and better in flavor and
texture than those grown as standards; the trees come in bearing
earlier. Dwarf pears, never very common on this continent, are not
planted as much now as they were some years ago. At one time, orchards
of these dwarfs were a familiar sight in New York. A dwarf orchard and
even a dwarf tree is now seldom seen. The faults that have driven them
out of New York are: The stocks used in dwarfing are not uniform,
consequently the trees vary in vigor, health, habit of growth, and in
time of maturity; nurserymen find that the stocks vary greatly in ease
of propagation either from cuttings or layers; the quince stocks are of
several varieties, difficult and expensive to obtain and, therefore,
the orchard trees are expensive; dwarf trees require much more care in
pruning, training, and cultivation than do standard trees; the cost of
producing pears in a dwarf orchard is greater than in a plantation of
standard trees, and the fruit does not command a much higher price;
dwarf trees are commonly rated as less hardy than standard trees and
are much shorter-lived; left to themselves, or if planted too deep, the
cions take root and the trees are but half dwarf. Some of the
objections to dwarf trees could be done away with by obtaining a
variety of the quince which would dwarf the pear satisfactorily, which
could be grown easily from cuttings or layers, and upon which most
pears could be easily worked. A quince of this description is not in
sight.

Almost all of the pears grown in America, as has been said,
are standard trees. The stocks for these standard pears are nearly all
imported from Europe under the name French stocks, although on the
Pacific slope seedlings of oriental species are being used more and
more. The French stocks are seedlings of vigorous forms of the common
pear, P. communis. Efforts to grow stocks of this species in America
usually fail because leaf-blight is so destructive as to make their culture unprofitable.
Leaf-blight can be controlled by spraying, but other deterrents, as
high price of labor and losses from dry summers, added to the cost of
spraying, make American-grown stocks expensive. Stocks raised in this
country are usually seedlings from imported seed. Seedlings of the Sand
pear, P. serotina, and its hybrids have been tried extensively in the
South and West to obtain cheap stocks more resistant to pear-blight
than the French stock, but they do not seem to be much more resistant
to blight, and many of the best varieties do not take on these stocks,
so that they are generally considered a failure.

New types of stocks are needed badly. [Sadly, this hasn't changed appreciably in the century since these words were written. -ASC] The ideal stock must be
vigorous and hardy; fairly immune to leaf-blight and fire-blight; it
must come from a species which seeds freely, and the seedlings from
which are uniform; this ideal stock must be adapted to all pear-growing
regions in the country; a large percentage of the seedlings must make
first-class stocks; the budding season must be long; congeniality with
all cultivated varieties must be great or very nearly perfect; the
consort of stock and cion must make a long-lived tree.

Quince stocks are obtained from cuttings or mound-layers.
Layering is considered the better method of the two. Stocks from the
oriental hybrids, of the Kieffer and Le Conte type, are often grown
from cuttings in the South. These are made in the spring from mature
wood of the preceding year's growth, and are treated much as are grape
and currant cuttings. Long cuttings, a foot in length if possible,
should be used. These stocks are of little value for varieties of the
common pear, but are better than French stocks for the oriental
hybrids, since these, in the South at least, usually over-grow French
stocks. Own-rooted trees of these oriental hybrids are often grown from
cuttings.

While of doubtful utility, stocks from other genera may be
used for the pear. Some of the thorns are occasionally used as dwarfing
stocks. The mountain ash is sometimes used to adapt pears to light
sandy soils. Occasionally one hears of pears grafted on sorbus. The
pear on the apple is short-lived, but old apple-trees top-worked to
pears sometimes give abundant crops for a few years. Apple roots may be
used as a nurse for pear cions. To be successful, the pear cion should
be long, when, if grafted on short apple-roots and set deeply, the pear
sends out roots and eventually becomes own-rooted.

[For a further discussion of pear rootstocks, with particular attention paid to those adapted to the Southeastern US, see this page -ADC]

PEAR ORCHARDS AND THEIR CARE

Perhaps no tree-fruit is more exacting in care than the pear.
Young trees, in particular, must be well cared for and more or less
coddled if any factor in environment is adverse. Almost any young
orchard of this fruit becomes moribund if the owner settles down to
self-satisfied complacency. As the trees come into full bearing, the
several items of culture need not be so intensive. A perfect
pear-orchard is about the consummation of good fruit-growing. But a
perfect orchard of this fruit is seldom to be found, for, sooner or
later, blight is certain to take its toll. Because of blight, the
culture of no other fruit is attended with more frequent or keener
disappointments. Today a man may walk in his orchard with adoration, as
an artist walks in a beautiful landscape. Tomorrow, blight may blast
the fairest trees. Pear-growing, thus, becomes a good deal of a gamble,
and the boundaries within which a fruit-grower's ambitions must be
confined as to acreage must be more closely drawn than with other
fruits. In most pear regions, the risks are too great to venture all in
the culture of this fruit.

It is an uphill task to grow pears on land not well fitted
before planting. A young pear-tree is about the least self-assertive of
any of the tree-fruits. For the first year or two young pears seem to
have almost no internal push, and are unable to get much of a start out
of any but land in the best of tilth. A bare, stony, starved soil is no
place for a young pear. The ground should be well tilled almost or
quite to the depth the trees are to be planted, otherwise the roots
seek the upper layers of earth where there is least resistance and food
is most available. If the drainage is faulty, subsequent treatment is
well-nigh useless. Sometimes retentive soils in which drainage is good
most of the year but slow at planting time may be brought into
condition by plowing a back-furrow along the line of each row in the
direction of surface drainage to carry away the surface water. Under no
circumstances should a tree be planted in a hole in which water is
liable to stand about the roots. If possible, the land should be
prepared a year in advance by putting in a hoed crop, after which it
should be plowed deeply in the fall and pulverized well in the spring,
and the trees planted as promptly as possible.

Land suitable for growing pears does not need to be fertilized
for young trees. It is not too much to say that land which will not
grow good wheat or corn is hardly fit for pears, although lighter soils
fertilized as the trees come in bearing grow some varieties very well;
but even on these the young trees will start as well without as with
fertilizers. Commercial fertilizers, at least, are not wanted by young
trees. Stable manure, usually priceless in orchard regions, often puts
an atmosphere in an orchard not to be had by any other means, chiefly,
probably, because it helps to put the land in good tilth rather than
because of the plant food supplied.

Present practices in the use of fertilizers for mature
pear-trees are very diverse. Until experiments in fertilizing pears are
carefully carried out, the pear-grower may well follow the practices of
apple-growers, since a considerable number of long-time experiments
have thrown light on the fertilizer requirements of apples in the
several great fruit regions of the country. The pear, however, requires
a richer soil than the apple; but, on the other hand, it is pretty well
agreed that the blight bacterium finds readier entrance and a better
medium in which to grow in the soft wood of a luxuriant growth than in
the more compact wood of slow growths. Whatever fertilizer is used
should be applied early to promote early growth and so permit thorough
ripening of wood well in advance of severe cold. Many growers maintain
that blight is less virulent in orchards laid down to grass. It is
doubtful if this is true and if true the produce is so scant and the
pears so small that an orchard grown in grass is about as often a
liability as an asset. When the pear is set in grass, however, nitrate
of soda applied very early in the season in liberal amounts is a
necessary adjunct to the grass-mulch. In any pear orchard, when the
foliage is off color, small, sparse, or hangs limp, nitrate of soda is
a sovereign rejuvenator.

This discussion may be closed with advice as to how one may
know when his trees need fertilizers. If the trees are vigorous,
bearing well, the fruits of proper size, the foliage a luxuriant green,
the growth plump, the buds turgid, he may well assume that his trees
need no additional plant-food. If the trees are not in the condition of
well-being indicated, one ought to be well assured that drainage,
tillage, and health are as they should be before applying expensive and
uncertain fertilizers. Nothing is more satisfactory than making sure
that one is not putting chemicals in the ground for nothing in the use
of fertilizers. A simple experiment to obtain positive evidence as to
whether a pear-orchard needs fertilizers is easily carried on and gives
assurance where before there was doubt.

The following is an example of such an experiment: (1) Acid
phosphate to give about 50 pounds of phosphoric acid to the acre
applied to one plat; (2) phosphate as above and muriate of potash to give 100
pounds of potash to the acre on another plat; (3) phosphate and muriate
as above and nitrate of soda and dried blood to give 50 pounds of
nitrogen per acre on a third plat; (4) six tons of stable manure on a
fourth plat; and (5) one plat left unfertilized as a check.

Planting practices vary so greatly from place to place and
from time to time, and each method at the place and time seems so
justifiable, that one can hardly advocate particular methods and can
only state what they are. Thus, pears have been set in accordance with
all of several planting plans, and at distances ranging from sixteen to
twenty-five feet apart. At present, pear-orchards are usually laid out
in meridians and parallels at intervals of eighteen and twenty feet;
when the first distance is used, one hundred and thirty-four trees are
planted to the acre; if the second, one hundred and eight trees. It is
patent to the eye of every passer-by that these distances are more
often too small than too great. Certainly on rich soils and with
varieties the trees of which are spreading, the distance might often
better be put at twenty-two or twenty-four feet. A poorly-colored pear
is usually a poorly-flavored pear; and color and flavor are largely
dependent on sunshine and air which are hardly to be had in
closely-planted trees. Perfect alignment is imperative for convenience
in working and pride of appearance. Dwarf trees in New York should be
set at least fifteen feet apart each way, one hundred and ninety-three
trees to the acre, although it is a common practice to set them closer.

Until recently one of the discouragements in pear-growing was
the failure of fruit to set, even though the trees bore an abundance of
blossoms. The discovery that failure was often due to self-sterility in
a variety, and that it was necessary to set another variety near-by to
furnish pollen to fertilize the self-sterile blossoms has removed much
of the uncertainty in growing pears. We now know that self-sterility
has a most important economic aspect in the planting of pears. Some of
the varieties most profitable when planted to secure cross-pollination,
are so unfruitful as to be quite unprofitable when a tree stands alone
or when the variety is set in a solid block with no other sort near.
Under most conditions Bartlett and Kieffer, the mainstays of American
pear-culture, both need pollen from another variety to insure a full
set of fruit. Under some conditions both may be sufficiently
self-fertile. From these two statements it is seen that self-sterility
is not a constant factor in a variety.

Self-sterility and self-fertility are greatly influenced by
the condition under which a variety is grown. Thus, a variety is often
self-sterile in one locality and not in another. Occasionally Bartlett,
usually nearly or quite self-sterile, and other varieties as well, set
fruit one season and not the next. All pears, the Bartlett in
particular, seem to have a greater degree of self-sterility in eastern
pear regions than on the Pacific slope. In general, the better the
adaptation of a variety to its environment the better it sets fruit
with its own pollen. It is obvious, therefore, that it is not possible
to give lists of self-sterile and self-fertile varieties. Such lists
can be made out only for regions and localities. Some varieties,
however, more often fail to set fruit because of self-sterility than
others. Among standard pears, Bartlett, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre
Clairgeau, Clapp Favorite, Howell, Kieffer, Lawrence, Sheldon, and
Winter Nelis appear to be most often self-sterile. Beurre Bosc, Flemish
Beauty, and Seckel are usually self-fertile.

A self-sterile variety usually sets fruit when another variety
is at hand to supply pollen. Several considerations determine the
selection of varieties to interplant. Thus, the two varieties must
blossom at the same time if cross-pollination is to be effective. The
table on pages 88 to 90 shows the sorts that bloom at the same time, or
nearly enough so to make cross-pollination possible. Under normal
conditions, the blooming time of varieties overlaps sufficiently for
cross-pollination excepting those that bloom very early and very late.
If the table is used for regions much to the north or to the south of
this Station, allowance must be made for a shorter blooming period the
farther north; a longer one the farther south. That varieties of pears
have sexual affinities is another consideration that merits some
attention. That is, one variety will fertilize another sort very well,
while pollen from a third may not be at all acceptable. "Affinities"
can be determined only by hand crossing. Probably the importance of
affinities is over-rated. The distance between varieties set for
cross-pollination must not be too great not more than two or three rows
apart. For convenience in harvesting, varieties should be selected in
relation to ripening. Only commercial varieties should be interplanted,
as the wastage is too great if comparatively worthless sorts are set to
fertilize a standard commercial variety.

Some disadvantages attend the setting of mixed orchards of
pears, and these must be weighed and overcome as far as possible. There
are many current statements to the effect that all varieties, whether
self-sterile or self-fertile, are more fruitful and produce better fruit
with foreign pollen than with their own. To old pear-growers, this
seems to be putting it rather strong, but the statements come from
accurate experimenters and observers and should have consideration.
Cross-pollination, be it remembered, is not a cure-all for failures to
set fruit. Unseasonable weather, lack of vitality in trees, various
fungi, and no doubt other agencies, may be the cause of unfruitfulness.

Perhaps with no other tree-fruits is it more important to
begin with good trees, as even with the best it is often difficult to
get a good start toward a pear-orchard. Black-heart, caused by
winter-killing, is a sign that must be heeded, and a tree badly
blackened in its pith, especially if the surrounding wood is
discolored, should be discarded. Crown-gall on tap roots affects the
tree deleteriously. Trees marked by hail or insects are often
worthless. Other marks that commend or condemn trees are: A short
stocky plant is better than a tall spindling one. A tree with many
branches is better than one with few branches. The roots should be much
branched rather than sparsely branched. A tree with smooth, bright bark
is better than one with rough, dull bark. Both trunk and branches
should be plump and show no signs of shrivelling. A poor pear-tree in
the nursery seldom makes a good tree in the orchard. There is great
variation in varieties as the trees come from the nursery, a fact to be
considered. In New York, two-year-old trees are best.

A good deal of the success that attends the culture of the
pear depends on properly setting the young trees and the right care of
the young plants. It is superfluous to discuss these operations in
detail, but a statement as to proper setting and care will serve as
reminders. In this State, pear-trees should always be set in the
spring. A young pear-tree should be set in the soil about as deep as it
stood in the nursery; in light soils the roots might well be planted a little deeper, and in heavy soils not
quite so deep. The soil must be packed firmly about the roots best done
by tramping. Watering is necessary only when the land is parched with
drought. When necessary, water should be used liberally. Puddling the
roots by dipping them in thin mud before planting serves very well for
watering. The surface soil should always be left loose. Rank manure
about the roots of young trees is plant infanticide. During the tender
nonage of the young pear, cultivation should be intensive; insects and
fungi should be kept off; and plants that refuse to grow well must be
marked for discarding.

A catch-crop grown between the rows of pears is a profitable
adjunct to the pear-orchard for the first four or five years. Few
indeed are the pear-orchards in New York that cannot be made to sustain
themselves for the first few years by inter-cropping. The crops should
be hoed crops, such as potatoes, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, and nearly
all crops in demand at the canneries. Along the Hudson, small-fruits
are often planted in young pear-orchards, but in Western New York these
are not looked upon with favor. Grass and grain are deadly in a young
pear-orchard, and no right-minded man would plant them there. This
brings us to cultivation.

Cultivation should be the rule; sod mulch, the exception, in
growing pears in New York. After pear-trees come into bearing they may
be made to produce crops if kept in sod. The grass in sodded orchards
should be kept closely mown to form a mulch about the trees. Commercial
fertilizers as well as mulch are needed in sodded orchards, and of the
several chemical fertilizers nitrogen is most requisite. The man who
grows pears in sod must not expect as much fruit, as the crop is
lessened in both number and size of the pears. On the other hand, the
pears may be better colored, and the trees may be freer from blight.

Tillage is begun in the spring by plowing the land. This
operation is followed by cultivation with smoothing-harrow, weeder, or
cultivator. There are several reliable guides to tell when and how
often a pear-orchard should be cultivated. When the soil becomes dry it
should be tilled. A heavy rain should always be followed by the
cultivator to prevent the formation of a crust on the surface. At this
time, he tills twice who tills quickly. Cultivate when there are clods
to be pulverized. Usually a pear-orchard should be cultivated once in
two or three weeks until time to sow the cover-crop in midsummer. The
depth to till is governed by the season and the nature of the soil.
Heavy soils need deep stirring; light soils, shallow stirring. Till
moist soils deeply; dry soils, lightly. The time to stop tillage depends on the soil, the climate, and the season.
The fruit should be nearly full sized when tillage is stopped and the
cover-crop sown.

The cover-crop seed is covered the last time the cultivator
goes over the orchard. Clover, vetch, cow-horn turnip, rape, oats, rye,
and buckwheat are all used as cover-crops in this State. Combination
crops are not popular because of too great cost of seed. The quantity
of seed sown is the same as when the crops are grown as farm crops. The
crops must be changed from time to time in whatever rotation seems most
suitable for the soil. The weather-map must be watched at sowing time
to make sure of a moist seed-bed. Whatever the crop, it should be
plowed under in the fall or early spring, and under no circumstances
should it stand late in the spring to rob the trees of food and
moisture. In moist, hot seasons, the cover-crop should be sown earlier
than in seasons of slow growth, when, possibly, it acts as a deterrent
to blight, and certainly makes more certain thorough ripening of the
new wood.

The double nature of pruning must be kept in mind whenever a
pruning tool is taken in the pear-orchard. Fruit-trees are pruned to
increase the quantity and quality of the crop this is pruning proper;
and to give the trees such form that they are easily managed in the
orchard this is training. Pruning tools are used first when the trees
are set, and they should be used every year thereafter as long as the
tree lives. The pruning at setting time is particularly important with
the pear, since newly set pears are slow and uncertain in starting, and
linger in growth for a year or two after going into the orchard. The
pruning is much the same as with other trees, but must be done with a
little greater care.

The top of the young plant must be pruned to enable the
injured root-system to supply the remaining branches with water. The
less the roots are injured, the less the top need be cut. Some cut back
all of the branches; some remove whole branches and do not head back
those that remain. The latter is the better plan for this reason: The
top buds on branches are largest and develop first, and the newly set
tree will grow best if it develops a large leaf-surface before hot dry
weather sets in. Young trees usually have surplus branches; remove
those not needed, leaving three, four, or rarely five to form the
framework of the tree. A pear so pruned will start growth and acquire
vigor more quickly than if all branches are cut back.

A choice must be made when planting as to whether the tree is
to be low- or high-headed. The habit of growth of varieties differs so
greatly that there can be no rule to determine how high the head of a
tree should be started. One can generalize to this extent: The heads of
varieties with spreading tops should be started higher than those
having an upright or pyramidal top. Without question, the choice should
be for a low-headed pear-tree. The trunks of pear-trees suffer terribly
from blight and sun-scald. The less trunk and the more it is shaded by
branches, the less the tree suffers from these two troubles. Also, low
trees are more easily sprayed and pruned; the crop is more easily
thinned and harvested; crop and tree are less subject to injury by
frost; the top is more quickly formed; and a low-headed tree bears
fruit soonest. By low-headed is meant a distance from the ground to the
first limb of two feet.

Two shapes of tops are open to choice the open-centered and
the close-centered. In the open-centered, or vase-form top, the tree
consists of a short trunk, surmounted by four or five main branches
ascending obliquely. In the close-centered top, the trunk is continued
above the lower branches and forms the center of the tree. The
close-centered pear-tree produces more fruit and is most easily kept to
its shape. No doubt it is best for most varieties. The open-centered
tree, with its framework of several main branches, has the advantage
when trees are attacked by blight, since if one or two branches are
destroyed by the disease a part of the tree may still be saved. The
head should never be formed by two central leaders forming a crotch, as
the trunk is liable to split and ruin the tree.

For several years after planting, the pear needs to be pruned
only to train the tree to the height of head determined upon and to
form the top. Exceptions are the sorts which produce few branches and
thus form straggling heads. This defect is overcome by cutting back
some of the branches in the spring, an operation which increases the
number of branches. A few other sorts, as Winter Nelis and White
Doyenné, have drooping, twisting, wayward branches which can be trained
into manageable shape only by cutting back or tying the branches in
place. Pear-growers as a rule prune young trees too much. Over-pruning
increases the growth of wood and leaf too greatly, and thus delays the
fruiting of the plant. A good deal might be said about the use and
abuse of heading-in pears that is, cutting back the terminal growths
from year to year. Dwarf pears must be headed-in severely to keep the
trees down, but standard trees should be headed-in only to make the
tops thicker and broader a desirable procedure with some varieties.

Old trees often need to be pruned to increase their vigor.
Such pruning is often spoken of as pruning for wood. When the tops of
pear-trees have dead and dying wood, when the seasonal growth is short and
slender, when the crops are small and the pears lack size, or when
trees are weakened by disease, a healthy condition may oftentimes be
restored by severely cutting back some branches and wholly removing
others. In such pruning the following rules ought to be observed:

Rich, deep soils favor growth; trees in such soils should be
pruned lightly. In light or shallow soils, trees produce few and short
shoots; the pruning of trees on such soils should be severe.

A good deal is said about pruning for fruit. It is doubtful,
however, whether unfruitful pear-trees can be made more fruitful by the
pruning recommended for this purpose. When barrenness is caused by the
production of wood and foliage at the expense of fruit-buds, as
possibly sometimes happens, summer-pruning may check the
over-production of growth and cause flower-buds to form. There seems to
be no definite experiments to prove this theory in America, nor do
pear-growers generally practice this kind of pruning which has been
preached so long and so often. To follow the rules in this operation,
summer-pruning should be done when the growth for the season has nearly
ceased. If done earlier, the shoots cut back start again and the
pruning has been useless. If done too late, there is too little time
for the production of fruit-buds. In the unequable climate of this
country it is most difficult to know when to prune in the summer to
meet the requirements of the theory urged so strongly by European
pomologists. A weighty objection to summer-pruning in America is that
the wounds might and probably would become centers of infection for
blight.

There is no attempt to give a full discussion of pruning in
this text. Such details as making the cut, covering the wounds, pruning
paraphernalia, filling cavities and the amount to prune, belong to
texts on pruning. Perhaps two minor details important in growing pears
should be mentioned. Suckers or water-sprouts form so freely on
branches of pears that they often seriously devitalize the tree, and
usually are centers of blight. They should therefore be removed
promptly whenever and wherever found. The time to prune the pear is important. If the work is done too
early in the winter, injury may result to the tissues near the wound
from cold or from checking. If done late in the spring when sap is
flowing, the wound becomes wet and sticky and is a suitable place for
the growth of fungi and the blight bacterium.

The pear is as easily grafted as any other pome, and the
operation is more certain and more often desirable than with any of the
stone-fruits. Almost any method of grafting used with orchard fruits is
successful with the pear. But the pear is not often grafted in this
State after the tree has been set in the orchard. The great objection
is that the vigorous growth made by grafts is nearly always nipped by
blight. Possibly the lack of affinity between different varieties is
more pronounced than with other pomes. The common European varieties
cannot be inter-worked without experimental knowledge of how one
variety will grow on another, and it is almost impossible to intergraft
common varieties with the oriental hybrids. The temptation is strong in
this State to graft such sorts as Bartlett and Seckel on Kieffer. This
combination is seldom successful; nor, as a rule, can other European
pears be grafted on Kieffer, although some growers have succeeded
fairly well in growing Seckel on Kieffer.

Thinning the fruit is not a common practice in pear-growing in
this State. There is no doubt but that much might be done to improve
pears in both size and quality by thinning, for be it remembered that
large size of fruit and high quality are usually correlated in pears.
Thinning often saves the vigor of the tree, and it is often good
orchard management to destroy insect- or disease-infected fruit by
thinning. The objection is high cost. Most growers, however, find that
it pays to thin. Thinning is usually done as soon as possible after the
June drop. It is most difficult to tell, when thinning, what will prove
superfluity at harvest. A skilled grower adjusts the size of the crop
to the variety, the vigor of the tree, fertility and moisture in the
ground, the season, and insects and fungi. Thinning should begin in the
winter with the removal of what seem to be superfluous branches, for
even at this time fruit-prospects for the ensuing season are
fore-shadowed.

HARVESTING AND MARKETING

Fruit-growing is made up of several quite distinct phases of
activity; as, propagation, culture, pruning, pests, harvesting, and
marketing. Treated in detail, each of these several operations
constitutes matters quite sufficient for separate treatises. In a manual such as this
only outlines of present practices are in place. Perhaps of all
deciduous fruits the pear needs as particular attention in the various
operations which conduct it from the orchard to the table as any other,
if, indeed, it is not the most difficult of hardy fruits to handle
after it leaves the orchard. The several operations that should be
treated in a discussion of handling the pear crop, no matter how brief,
are picking, grading, packing, storing, shipping, and marketing.

The time of picking is most important in handling pears. Pears
are picked, especially for the markets, long before they are ready to
eat out of hand. So harvested, almost without exception, all pears
acquire higher quality than when they ripen on the tree. Moreover, when
the necessary percentage of sugars and solids has developed to give
full flavor the pears are too easily bruised to be shipped. Just how
green pears can be harvested and afterward have the rich shades of red
and yellow and the delectable flavor of ripe pears develop seems not
yet to have been determined. No doubt the stages of development differ
somewhat with the variety. In New York, the generally accepted rule is
to pick when the stem parts readily from the branch if the fruit is
lifted. Some wait until there is a perceptible yellowing of the maturer
fruits; others until full-grown, wormy specimens are ripe; still others
until the seeds begin to change color. But on the Pacific slope and for
the cannery in this State, pears are picked when much greener than in
any of the conditions named and yet seem to ripen well. As a matter of
economy, the fruits should be left until they attain nearly or quite
full size.

The directions just given apply more particularly to the
main-crop pears and early and fall sorts. Winter pears in this State
should be left on the trees until in danger from freezing. Even so, the
season is too short for some choice winter sorts. No matter what the
season, pears should be shipped before they reach edible condition. A
few of the winter pears, suitable only for culinary purposes, never
soften, and change color little or not at all.

Picking pears is not the delicate business that picking the
stone-fruits is, but yet must be done with considerable care as a
bruise provides a place for subsequent decay. Few picking appliances
are needed, but these should be carefully chosen to insure speed and
careful handling of the fruit. A full complement of ladders is necessary, and the picking
receptacle, either bag, basket, or bucket, should be chosen to fulfill
most conveniently its purpose and yet not be a source of danger to the
fruit. From the picking receptacle, the pears go to the crate or barrel
for carriage to the packing-house; for, unless the fruit is going to
the cannery, pears should be graded and packed in the packing-house.

Grading pears is a more difficult operation than grading
apples, as mechanical graders have proved of little use, and the work
must be done by hand. Only good fruit is worth grading. It follows,
that the higher the price and the more special the market, the more
carefully should the pears be picked and graded. Pears are usually
graded in New York into firsts, seconds, and culls. The State has no
law governing the grading and packing of pears as it has of apples and
peaches, so that pear-growers must establish their own grades. By
common consent of growers and dealers, Grade I consists of pears of one
variety, full sized, well formed, free from dirt, skin-breaks, worms,
scale, scab or other damage caused by insect or disease, hail pecks, or
mechanical injuries. Grade II differs from Grade I only in that the
pears may not be of full size nor perfect in form. A leeway of five to
ten per cent is allowed for variation incident to grading and handling.
Culls are pears which do not meet the requirements of the foregoing
grades.

In putting up grades every effort is made to keep the fruit in
a package uniform in size. At the beginning of the season the sizes are
gauged by putting the pears through rings of the diameter desired. But
packers soon become expert in sizing, and with a little practice
perform the work quickly and accurately without rings. Of the larger
pears, such as Bartlett, Clapp Favorite, Beurré Bosc,
and Beurre d'Anjou, fruits are hardly worth putting in a good package that do not
measure two and one-fourth inches through the shorter axis.

Grading and sizing pears are greatly neglected, and most of
the crop goes to the market in this State wretchedly packed, for which
reason maximum prices are seldom received. The industry can never
compete successfully with western pear-growing until higher standards
are adopted in putting the New York crop on the market.

In common with grading and sizing, packages are neglected in
marketing New York pears. Some growers pack in bushel baskets; a few
send the crop to market in half-bushel baskets; a large size of the
Climax basket is occasionally seen in the markets filled with summer
pears or small Seckels; a keg holding about a bushel or more is less used; a pear
barrel holding a peck less than an apple barrel was formerly more used
than now; Kieffer is often sent to the market in apple barrels. A very
few New York growers ship in boxes, but these are few indeed. In all
excepting the boxes, the pears, having been graded, are carefully put
in the packages, sometimes in layers and sometimes hit or miss, but the
package is always faced. Good grades are usually labeled, though the
same attention is not given to labeling pears that is given in putting
up apples. Truth is, the packing of pears in New York is a decade or
two behind the packing of apples.

The commercial pear-grower now stores his pears in cold
storage if he keeps them any length of time after harvesting. A few
varieties, of which Beurré Bosc is most notable, do not keep well in
cold storage, but most of the mainstays in the pear industry keep
fairly well in artificial cold. There is, however, much to be learned
about the commercial storage of pears. There seems to be little
information that can be relied upon as to how low the temperature
should go; how humid the atmosphere should be; how long the pears can
be kept in good condition; and how different varieties behave under
these several conditions.

Perhaps a word should be said as to how the pear can be
ripened best in the home. After harvesting, the pears should be placed
in a cool sweet-smelling fruit-room in shallow boxes or spread upon
shelves to acquire in time full flavor and color. Most pears part with
their moisture readily, and the pear-room must not be open to draughts
which usually cause the fruits to become hard and leathery or to
shrivel. If the pears are to be kept long, wrapping in paper helps to
prevent shriveling. Nearly all pears ripen perfectly in cool or cold
storage, but a few late winter sorts ripen better if brought into a
temperature of 60° or 70° for two or three weeks before their season.

A large part of New York's pear crop is canned in commercial
canneries. Canners usually pay high prices, and the crop, when sold to
them, need not be so carefully picked, packed, and otherwise handled.
It is a mistake to assume that pears for the cannery can be shaken from
the tree or handled roughly otherwise. Neither do the canners want the
poor grades, after the good pears have been sent to the market. Large
sizes are usually preferred, and the fruits must be well formed, free
from serious insect, fungous, or mechanical injuries, and at a
particular stage of maturity which the canner specifies. The profits in
selling to canners are usually more certain, and are often quite as
great as in selling on the markets. The cannery is a splendid safety valve to the pear industry in
this State. Pears are not dried commercially in New York as they are in
California, although it would seem that here in the center of the
apple-drying industry of the world pears might also be dried with
profit.

Most of the pear crop of this region is now sold to local
buyers or on consignment to city dealers. Co-operative methods are just
beginning and promise much. There are several reasons why the pear,
even more than the apple, which is more and more going to the markets
through co-operative associations, should be handled by organizations
of growers. Thus, an association could load a car quickly, which few
individual growers can do; pears are not now, but would be, graded and
packed under one standard; more favorable transportation rates would be
secured; and, most important of all, the pear crop would be distributed
to the great markets of the country without the disastrous competition
that attends individual marketing. If the pear industry is to grow in
the State, pears must be largely marketed through the central packing
associations that are now being rapidly organized to sell fruits.

No reliable data can be obtained to show what the costs are in
growing pears in this State. It would be hard to obtain such data, for
pear-growing is now a game of chance from start to finish. Good
pear-lands are not hard to obtain, and the risks to tree and crop
attendant on weather are not great, but the trees are everywhere
subject to blight; which, despite the recommendations of plant
pathologists, cannot be controlled, and which annually destroys
thousands of trees, ruins others, and sooner or later upsets
calculations of costs and profits in almost every pear-orchard in the
State. Other pests, as psylla, the scab-fungus, and codling-moth beset
the pear and make profits uncertain. When all goes well, the costs are
about the same as in growing apples, while the profits are somewhat
greater. But with blight to contend with, most of the economic factors
are inconstant, and calculating costs and profits is guessing pure and
simple.

Some very good preliminary work on harvesting and storing
pears has been done by the Oregon Experiment Station, and is reported
in Bulletin 154, June, 1918, from that Station.

For costs and profits in growing apples see Bulletin 376,
New York Agricultural Experiment Station.

DISEASES OF THE PEAR

The pear is attacked by a half dozen or more diseases in New
York, of which two, at least, need treatment every year, in every
orchard, and on nearly every variety. One, pear-blight, is about the
most malignant of the diseases of the orchard, for which there is no
antidote and no alleviation or preventive except by the most drastic sanitary
measures. The other, pear-scab, is always present but not always
destructive, although some varieties are always injured by it. The
scab, however, is amenable to treatment and at its worst only destroys
fruit and foliage, seldom endangering the life of the tree. The four or
five other diseases of the pear in New York are of minor importance and
are readily controlled by the treatment necessary to keep in check the
scab-fungus. Pear-blight merits attention first.

Pear-blight is a malignant bacterial disease, very contagious,
usually virulent and so terrible in its consequences as to warrant the
common name fire-blight. No part of the tree is exempt from destruction
by the malign bacterium that causes blight of the pear. Root, trunk,
branch, leaf, flower, and fruit are all attacked, turn black and wither
under the disease. Few plant diseases produce more disastrous results.
The pear competes with the apple in importance in Europe where blight
is unknown. In America it is a poor fourth to the apple, peach, and
plum, and takes fourth place instead of second because of the ravages
of blight. About the most important discovery to be made in pomology is
a race of blight-resistant pears. Failing in this, if the pear-industry
is to grow, or even continue in its present magnitude, blight-resistant
stocks must be found.

The symptoms of pear-blight are so characteristic that the
disease cannot be confounded with any other malady or condition of the
tree. It appears earliest in the season on the blossoms causing
blossom-blight. Attacked by blight, the blossoms wilt, and after the
petals fall, fruit and spur show the characteristic blackening of the
disease. Blossom-blight may escape the attention of the pear-grower,
but twig-blight, a succeeding form of the disease, can escape no one
who has the sense of sight. No other disease of the pear brings on such
palpable destruction to the tree as twig-blight. No other disease
causes such comfortless despair to the grower. Twig, branch, or tree,
as the case may be, in all affected parts, turns black, the leaves
droop, seeming to show the effects of fire. A marked symptom is, if
there can be doubt of those given, that the blackened foliage clings
most tenaciously to the dead branches. Twig-blight is the most common
manifestation of the disease. Another form of the blight appears as a
canker on the trunk and large branches— canker-blight or body-blight.
These cankers are dark, smooth, and sunken, with definite margins
marked by a crevasse in the winter; but as spring comes on the
advancing margins become raised and more or less indefinite.
Occasionally an opaque liquid oozes from lenticels newly attacked. On branches, the
cankers usually surround a smaller offshoot, sucker, or spur. The
disease spreads with great rapidity, by reason of which it is easily
told from winter-killing. Injury from cold is also more general, and
the foliage browns rather than blackens.

Pear-blight is an American disease, the history of which was
briefly given on page 51. Until recently it was confined to regions
east of the Rocky Mountains, but since about 1900 it has been a
virulent epidemic on the Pacific slope as well, and is now found from
coast to coast wherever pears are grown in North America. It seems not
to be found in the pear regions of other continents. It attacks the
apple, quince, and other pomes as well as the pear, and plant
pathologists declare it to be the most destructive disease attacking
the pome-fruits. Trees in the nursery suffer as well as those in the
orchard. Every variety of the pear bearing edible fruit is attacked.
Fortunately, some sorts are more immune than others. Kieffer, Seckel,
Winter Nelis, and Duchesse d'Angouleme are most resistant of standard
varieties, while Bartlett, Clapp Favorite, and Flemish Beauty are
little resistant.

Pear-blight is caused by a bacterium, Bacillus amylovorous,
[Erwinia amylovora the current taxonomic name- ASC] the discovery of which by Burrill in 1877 as a cause of this disease is
one of the landmarks in plant pathology. The organisms are dormant
during the winter, which they pass in the margins of blight-cankers
where moisture is sufficient to keep them alive. With the return of
vegetative growth, some sort of fermentation seems to set in and drops
of a thick, opaque liquid ooze out of the margins of blight-cankers.
These contain countless numbers of the blight bacteria which may swarm
into the healthy tissues adjoining, or be carried by any one of the
great number of kinds of insects which visit trees at flowering time to
the pear-blossoms, to growing tips, or to wounds in tender bark. The
pruner with his tools may be an unwilling agent in carrying the
bacteria from tree to tree. The organisms now multiply apace, killing
tissues wherever they find entrance and causing the several
manifestations of the disease described under symptoms. Were it not
that the bacteria are killed by sunlight and even brief periods of
drying, the life of the plants attacked would be the only limits of the
disease unless checked by man.

Theoretically, pear-blight can be controlled. Practically,
pear-growers fail to control it. Control consists in orchard sanitation
whereby the bacterium causing the disease is kept out of the orchard.
This proves all but impossible in the average orchard. Sometimes, without
doubt, the virulency of the disease is lessened. Possibly, if all the
recommendations of plant pathologists could be put in practice,
pear-growers would more often succeed in keeping blight down, but the
necessary sanitary measures require such watchful care and so great an
expense that few pear-growers can carry out the program for controlling
this disease. Of those who have studied methods of control and have
given advice on the subject, Hesler and Whetzel are as reliable as
any and we quote herewith their recommendations:
"In attempting to control fire-blight, the following
important points should be borne in mind: (1) That the disease is
caused by bacteria which gain entrance to the host tissues only through
wounds, or punctures by insects, into succulent, rapidly growing
tissues, or through the nectaries of the blossoms. (2) That insects of
several kinds are the usual agents of innoculation. (3) That
practically all pome fruit-growing sections in North America are
infested, and therefore there is always a source from which the
bacteria may be disseminated. (4) That all known varieties of the
hosts, on which the blight organism occurs, are more or less
susceptible; while some show resistance, none are wholly immune.
Therefore control consists chiefly in the elimination of the pathogene
from the infected trees. This is accomplished by a strict application
of the following operations:

(a) Inspect all pear trees in the autumn and again in the
early spring before the blossoms open, and cut out and treat all
cankers in the body and main limbs. With a sharp knife, or draw-shave,
remove all the diseased tissue, wash the wound with corrosive sublimate
(one tablet to one pint of water), and, when dry, paint the wound with
coal-tar or lead paint, preferably the former. The wound-dressing will
need renewal every year or so.

(b) Throughout the summer, beginning with the fall of
blossoms, make an inspection every few days of the young trees. Break
out the blighted spurs and cut out diseased twigs, making the cut at
least six inches below the diseased portion. Disinfect the cuts with
corrosive sublimate, (c) Remove all watersprouts from the trees two or
three times during the season, (d) In the nursery remove the
blossom-buds, particularly of the quinces. Here inspection must be
frequent, particularly in susceptible stock, in order to keep the
disease under control. It is often necessary to inspect certain blocks
daily, the diseased twigs being cut out as soon as observed. When
budded stock of the first year becomes affected, the trees should be
dug out, since cutting below the diseased area causes the trunk of the
young tree to be crooked and therefore not marketable, (e) Control the
insects. The real point of attack lies in this phase of the problem."

Scab (Venturia pyrina Aderh.), after blight, is the best-known
and most prevalent disease of the pear in New York. Like blight, it is
found wherever pears are grown in North America, and also wherever
pears are grown in foreign countries. It attacks the pear at all ages
from the youngest to the oldest plant. Twigs, leaves, flowers, and
fruit suffer. A closely related and very similar fungus attacks the
apple and causes the apple-scab, but the two fungi are not the same and
do not spread from the one fruit to the other.

The name describes the disease at maturity so that all may
know it. Black, canker-like lesions spot the fruit, leaf, and twig.
These are most characteristic on the pear. The scabs first appear on
the fruit as olive-green velvety spots; the young fruits may drop; if
they persist, growth may cease, the skin crack, or the fruit be
distorted; the fruit-stalk is often shriveled. The scab shows on the
leaves much as on the fruit and usually attacks the lower surface. On
the twigs the scab is not so conspicuous, but appears as a small round
spot which may or may not slough off and be replaced by healthy bark.
Young twigs are most often attacked, in which case the scabby spots
suggest scale insects.

Pear-scab is caused by a fungus. The chief life events of this
fungus must be known to control the disease. The organism passes the
winter in leaves on the ground. In the spring, the spores which have
matured in the spore-cases are forcibly discharged, and, being very
light, are carried hither and thither by the wind so that some of them
reach the opening flower and leaf-buds. If moisture and heat are
sufficient, the spores germinate, and an infection is started. A
foothold secured, the germ-tubes branch and form a dense mycelium the
velvety layer visible to the unaided eye. From these masses of mycelium
spore-stalks arise in great numbers bearing countless spores which by
one agent and another are carried to other leaves, twigs, or blossoms
for new infections. New infections continue throughout the growing
season. The black scab spots on fruit and leaf are corky layers of
tissue formed to heal the wounds made by the fungus which has ceased to
grow vigorously in these scabs. The fungus may pass the winter on the
twigs as well as in fallen leaves.

Different varieties resist the scab-fungus differently.
Flemish Beauty and Summer Doyenné are most susceptible and in seasons
favorable to the fungus seldom present fruits with a clean cheek no
matter how careful the treatment. Pruning off badly infected twigs and
plowing under scabby leaves are good sanitary measures. In New York,
two applications of lime and sulphur at the summer strength, if applied annually,
are usually sufficient to control the fungus. The first of these
applications should be made when the blossoms show color, a few days
before they open. The second should be put on when most of the petals
have fallen. In seasons favorable to the scab, a third application two
weeks after the second may be the means of saving the crop. The spread
of the disease is greatly favored by damp warm weather.

Pear-growers are plagued by two leaf-spots, one of which is
also known as leaf-blight. The leaf-spot here to be discussed
{Mycosphcerella sentina (Fr.) Schroet.) is sometimes called the ashy
leaf-spot. The disease is not often seriously troublesome in New York,
but is capable of doing great damage in both the nursery and orchard.
The spots which give name to the disease are conspicuous enough, but
even when present in great numbers are often not seen by the
pear-grower until there is a premature dropping of the leaves in August
or earlier. The trees often put out new growths, with the result that
the wood does not ripen and the tree is left in no condition to stand
the cold of winter in this northern climate.

As with nearly all diseases of plants, some varieties suffer
more than others. Sheldon, Seckel, and Flemish Beauty are more injured
than Kieffer, Lawrence, and Mount Vernon. Nursery stock is more often
injured the second than the first year set. Only the leaves suffer. The
fungus first shows its work in minute purplish spots on the upper
surface of the leaf. The mature spots measure about one-sixth of an
inch in diameter, are angular in shape, with well-defined margins, and
have an outer zone of brownish-purple, with a grayish center. Late in
the season, dots, the spore-cases of the fungus, appear in the gray
central area. The fungus passes the winter in diseased leaves which
fall to the ground in late summer. From these leaves spores are
discharged into the air to be carried to the leaves after growth begins
in the spring. The disease is usually controlled by the sprays
necessary every year to keep pear-scab in submission. In the nursery,
two-year-old trees are sprayed just after the new leaves open and twice
thereafter at two-week intervals. One-year-olds seldom need to be
sprayed.

Leaf-blight (Fabraea maculata (Lev.) Atk.) is a common and
destructive fungus in pear-nurseries in New York and is sometimes
troublesome in orchards. The quince suffers even more than the pear
from this fungus. In the nursery, leaves and twigs are attacked, and in
the orchard the pears themselves sometimes suffer. The disease appears
in the spring as minute, reddish-brown circular spots on the upper surface of the
leaves, but the fungus penetrates through to the lower surface as the
disease progresses. Eventually the color changes to dark brown, and
later a coal-black, raised spot appears in the center. The spots
sometimes run together. Young leaves shrivel under the attacks of the
fungus; while old ones, if badly diseased, turn yellow and drop
prematurely. Twigs and leaf-stalks are frequently girdled, and the
lesions are more elongated. The spots are similar on the fruits to
those on the leaves. The fungus spends the winter in fallen leaves. In
the spring the spores are discharged from the fruiting organs of the
fungi and are carried to the tender leaf or twig of the pear or quince.
The parasite begins growth at once and in about a month a new crop of
spores develop. This fungus grows on various other pome-fruits which
complicates remedial measures. The treatment recommended for leaf-spot
should control leaf-blight.

As are all tree-fruits in New York, the pear is attacked by
crown-gall {Bacterium tumefaciens Smith & Townsend; [now known as Agrobacterium tumefaciens- A.S.C.). This disease,
however, is seldom a serious menace to orchard trees this far north,
but the vigor of nursery stock is sapped when the galls girdle the
tap-root or the stem at the collar. Moreover, trees affected by
crown-gall are barred in most states by inspection laws so that
nurserymen can ill afford to produce gall-infected trees. It is a wise
precaution not to plant badly diseased trees. The galls are tumor-like
structures on the roots of the plant, or often at the juncture of root
and stem. They vary from the size of a pea to that of a large egg,
forming at maturity rough, knotty, dark-colored masses. Another form of
the disease appears as a dense tangle of hair-like roots arising from
callous-like galls. This form passes under the name "hairy root."
Neither preventive nor cure is known. Orchard or nursery should not be
planted on ground known to have been infected as the disease is highly
contagious. The brambles, especially raspberries, are common carriers
of crown-gall, and none of the brambles should be planted as intercrops
in pear-orchards.

Brown-blotch (Leptothyrium pomi (Mont. et Fr.) Sacc. var.) is
another fungus which is sometimes troublesome. The fungus causes
reddish blotches on the fruit which coalesce into rusty-brown patches
often covering the whole surface of the pear. Here, again, the Kieffer
suffers most although fruits of other varieties are often disfigured by
the blotch. The disease is most common on heavy soils and in densely
shaded trees. Pruning to let in the sun is usually sufficient to keep the fungus in check,
but a late application of lime and sulphur is often necessary.

Black mold (Fumago vagans Fr.), a fungus which grows in the
honey-dew exuded by the nymphs of the pear-psylla, sometimes causes a
sooty covering of the pears which spoils their sale. Twigs and leaves
are also covered with thin superficial growth of the fungus somewhat to
the detriment of growth. The remedy is obvious control the psylla.

Pink-rot (Cephalotheciurn roseurn Cda.) sometimes does much
damage to pears in common or cold storage. The fungus seems able to
enter the skin of pears only through injuries, and when reasonable care
is used in handling the fruit the rot does little damage. Not
infrequently it is found on fruits unpicked, having entered the skin
through ruptures made by pear-scab, black-spot, or other fungi. This,
of course, seldom happens in well-sprayed orchards.

INSECTS ATTACKING THE PEAR

Several insect pests are very destructive to pear-trees, as
many more are often troublesome, while perhaps in addition to the dozen
that must always or occasionally be combatted some thirty or forty more
have been listed as pear-pests. Young pear-trees are very susceptible
to injuries of any kind and if beset by any of the common insect pests
do not prosper. As the trees come to maturity, life and vigor of the
tree may not be endangered by any but two or three of the worst pests,
but the crop is always cut short by infestations of insects on any part
of the plant which interferes with the normal life of the tree. The
pests most destructive to the pear in New York, about in order of
importance, are San Jose scale, psylla, codling-moth, pear-slug, and
pear-leaf blister-mite.

San Jose scale {Aspidiotus perniciosus Comstock) is
particularly harmful to tree and fruit of the pear. The pears,
possibly, are malformed more and show the scales with their
discoloration more plainly than the product of any other fruit-tree. A
scale-infested pear-tree is easily recognized. Dead and dying twigs or
branches and moribund trees are evidences of the dreaded pest.
Examination shows the moribund parts to be covered with myriads of
minute scales which give the infected bark a scurfy, ashy look. A
reddish discoloration is discovered if the bark be cut or scraped. A
foothold gained on trunk or branch, fruit and foliage are soon
infected. Reproduction is continuous throughout the summer, and the
scales increase by leaps and bounds. Smooth-barked young trees succumb
within three or four years if the insects are unchecked; the rougher-barked
old trees survive the pest indefinitely, although the vigor is lessened
to the point of unproductiveness in many old orchards. Pear-growers
find the lime-sulphur solution applied in the dormant season the most
effective spray in combating San Jose scale. Several insect enemies of
the scale help to keep the pest down. A quarter-century ago, it was
feared that the pear industry of the State might be ruined by San Jose
scale, but no energetic fruit-grower now fears the pest.

Next to San Jose scale, psylla is the most feared pest of the
pear in New York. Indeed, this insect is much more difficult to combat
successfully than scale, and were it as wide-spread, the pear industry
in New York would be hard hit. The psylla is a minute, sucking insect,
wingless in its immature stages, but winged and very active as an
adult. They are nearly related to plant-lice, and like them suck the
juices of the buds and new leaves. Like plant-lice also they reproduce
very rapidly. The immature insects secrete a sticky honey-dew which
becomes blackened with a fungus, and the presence of this blackish,
sticky substance on foliage and branches is usually the first
indication of the pest. The adult is about one-tenth inch long, with
four membranous wings, the body dark in color and showing
brownish-black markings. Seen through a hand lens, the mature insects
look like tiny cicadas. The adults hibernate in crevices of the bark,
and at the time buds are swelling in the spring come out to lay their
eggs. The eggs hatch in two or three weeks, and there may be four or
five broods in a season. The pest is best controlled by spraying with
such contact insecticides as tobacco extract both to kill the
hibernating insects and later the immature psylla. The winter strength
of lime-sulphur solution will kill the eggs.

The apple-worm, the larva of the codling moth (Carpocapsa
pomonella Linnaeus), destroys great quantities of pears year in and
year out in New York, causing greater monetary loss to pear-growers
than any other insect pest. The worm and its work scarcely need
description all know "wormy" apples and pears and the agent of the
mischief. A pinkish-white, fleshy worm eats a cavity within the pear,
usually through and around the core, and then eats its way out to the
surface, after which it finds suitable shelter in a crevice of the bark
and spins its cocoon. About the time apples blossom the larvae
transform into small brown pupae, from which small moths emerge in two
or three weeks. The moths are coppery-brown, small, with a wing expanse
of about three-quarters inch, and very inconspicuous as they rest during the day on the bark of the
pear-tree which they closely resemble; they fly only at dusk. The moth
lays its eggs on leaves or the fruit itself and the young larvae
immediately begin work on the nearest pear. Control consists in
spraying with arsenate of lead. Two and sometimes three sprayings are
necessary. The most important spraying is made just after the blossoms
fall, while the calyx-cup is still open, so that the poison will lodge
in the blossom-end of the upturned pear. Codling moth was once a most
serious pest of the pear, but is now easily kept under control by
seasonal applications of arsenate of lead.
[Much better pesticides that are both more effective and less persistently toxic in the environment are now available. Some examples that I have used are listed in my
care page for the Southeastern U.S. -ASC.]

The pear-slug (Caliroa cerasi Linnaeus), a generation ago,
before spraying was common, did much damage to the pear in New York,
but is now a negligible pest except in the orchards of the indifferent
or slothful since it is easily controlled by spraying. The slugs are
small, dark green shiny creatures which eat the surface of the leaves
of pear, cherry, and plum. They devour the upper surface of the leaf
leaving the veins and the tissues of the lower surface, which turn
brown so that the infested tree has the aspect of having been scorched
by fire. The slugs molt and finally lose their shiny coat and dirty
green color, the full-grown larvae becoming clear yellow. The adult is
one of the numerous saw-flys. Eggs are laid within the tissues of the
leaves. There are two or three generations in a season. The slugs are
most common in the hottest part of the summer or late in the summer.
This pest is easily kept in check by applications of arsenate of lead.

The foliage of the pear, in common with that of the apple, is
often seriously injured by a mite (Eriophyes pyri Pgst.) which burrows
into the tissues of the leaves. The mites attack the young leaves
causing reddish blisters which turn black. The blisters are thickened
spots which are found to have a corky texture. The young fruits are
sometimes attacked, in which case they are badly malformed. The mites
are of microscopic size and can be seen only by the aid of a magnifying
glass. They hibernate under the scales of the leaf-buds, and are thus
ready to attack the young leaves as soon as they unfold, which they do
by eating their way in from the under side and then by their work cause
the characteristic swellings. As they mature, the mites come out and
move to new places and start more colonies. In the autumn, they find
their way to the maturing buds and go into winter quarters. An
application of lime-sulphur solution at winter strength usually
disposes of the mites; that put on forSan Jose scale suffices for this pest also. Summer sprays do
not reach the mites as they are then hidden within the leaves. The pest
was once a serious menace to the pear, but with the advent of winter
spraying has become of small importance.

Of the numerous other insects which occasionally become
serious pests of the pear, at least twenty have been troublesome at one
time or another in New York. Space does not permit a description of
these minor pests they are named as a matter of record. It is not
necessary to give remedies for them, as all are controlled by the
treatment of major pests which in most orchards need annual
applications of one spray or another.

Several scale insects, other than San Jose scale, are more or
less pestiferous in the pear-orchards of this State; commonest of these
is the oyster-shell, which not infrequently does serious damage to
young and unhealthy trees. The scurfy scale found chiefly on the apple
sometimes becomes a pest on the pear. A hemispherical scale, about
one-twelfth of an inch in length, known as the terrapin scale, now and
then infests the pear, but is seldom if ever harmful. As a rule, the
treatment for San Jose scale keeps all other scales in check, but all
are more difficult to kill than the San Jose and in cases of
troublesome infestations may require drastic treatment with a contact
insecticide.

A great number of chewing insects, as distinguished from
sucking insects, defoliate the pear when given an opportunity, but are
kept in check by the treatment for codling moth. The much-dreaded
browntail moth and gypsy moth now have a foothold in the State, but as
yet can hardly be called pests although their advent threatens the pear
industry as it does all other orchard industries. The bud-moth, seldom
seen in well-cared-for orchards, is sometimes a vexatious visitor in
pear-orchards. Three species of caterpillars, all most striking in
appearance, the larval stages of tussock moths, infest pear-trees.
These are the white-marked tussock moth, the rusty tussock moth, and
the definite-marked tussock moth.

The pear-tree has its share of borers. A small, dark brown
beetle, about one-third of an inch in length, the apple twig-borer,
sometimes does considerable damage to young shoots of the pear. The
flat-headed apple-tree borer works in the sap wood of the pear as in
the apple. The shot-hole borer, a tiny insect, eats a small round hole
in the trunk of the pear, as it does also in several fruits, but does
little damage except in devitalized trees. The shot-borer, a tiny black
beetle, one-tenth of an inch long, bores into twigs or small branches and sooner or
later causes their death. None of these borers are very harmful on the
pear in New York, but all must be reckoned with occasionally. All are
difficult to control.

The pear thrips attack the newly opening flower- and leaf-buds
and when the insect, a small winged creature with sucking mouth-parts,
is abundant much damage is done. This pest in New York is chiefly
confined to the Hudson River Valley. The European grain aphis, closely
related to the destructive apple aphis, is sometimes a serious pest on
pears. Both of these pests are comparatively easily controlled by
timely applications of contact insecticides.

Lastly, there are several chewing insects which feed on the
leaves of the pear, which, unless checked, sometimes become major pests
for a season or two in an orchard here and there. All of them,
fortunately, are controlled by the arsenical poisons which are
necessary to keep the codling moth down. The pests are: Cigar
case-bearer, green fruit worm, pistol case-bearer, and oblique-banded
leaf-roller. With these, as with most of the other pests of the pear,
cultivation to keep down all foreign vegetation, and orchard
sanitation, consisting chiefly of the destruction of infested fruit,
foliage, or wood, are essential preventives.